https://phys.org/space-news/planetary-sciences/ en-us Planetary science and exoplanets exploration news stories and features from Phys.org Venus' bizarre and extraordinarily slow retrograde rotation on its axis has long puzzled planetary scientists. But in a new paper presented at the recent European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, the authors argue that their models indicate a high-angle, moon-sized, high-velocity impactor likely triggered Venus' strange 248-day rotation. And it probably happened within the first 50 million years of Venus' formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-venus-strange-rotation-triggered-high.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 15 Jun 2026 21:20:01 EDT news700736615 Caltech researchers have identified a novel chemical reaction that could explain the formation of the building blocks of DNA and RNA, the molecules that encode all of life's functions. The work is an important step toward understanding how life may have emerged on Earth and potentially elsewhere in the universe, showing the straightforward and efficient pathways through which simple molecules can give rise to complex biological precursors. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-benzene-reaction-dna-rna-blocks.html Astrobiology Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:20:01 EDT news700757522 Debris is still raining down on Earth more than 100 million years after the giant cosmic explosion that created it. A study published this week in Nature Astronomy by an international team reached this conclusion using measurements of rare isotopes within a slow-growing ferromanganese crust recovered from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-deep-sea-crust-uncovers-steady.html Astrobiology Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:40:01 EDT news700754041 A team of astronomers, led by Brooke Kotten of the University of Michigan, has shown that TOI-5882—a sunlike star located some 1,300 light-years away—has likely eaten one of its planets. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lithium-spike-reveals-sun-star.html Astronomy Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:40:02 EDT news700746421 Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is a unique environment in our solar system. It is the only moon (or body beyond Earth) to have a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere, and its methane cycle is very similar to Earth's hydrological cycle, in which solid and liquid methane evaporate to form clouds and return to the surface as precipitation. In addition, its prebiotic surface environment and rich organic chemistry make it a prime destination for astrobiology missions, such as NASA's Dragonfly mission (set to launch no earlier than July 2028). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-titan-resources-potential.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:05 EDT news700739821 Sulfur is one of the most abundant elements in the universe. If you peer into a diffuse interstellar cloud, you find loads of it—about the amount expected based on fusion patterns in the stars it was born in. However, if you look at a dense, cold molecular cloud—the kind where those stars actually form—it seems like 99% of the sulfur expected to be there is missing. Scientists have puzzled over this "missing sulfur problem" for decades, though a leading theory is that the element hides in icy dust grains, making it hard to detect. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-astrochemical-universe-sulfur.html Astrobiology Sun, 14 Jun 2026 19:30:03 EDT news700402839 A debate has been raging among planetary scientists for more than a decade—why are there so few exoplanets with a radius of about 1.8 times that of Earth? Exoplanets are currently largely grouped into two distinct categories—"super-Earths" are below that size and have rocky interiors, whereas "sub-Neptunes" are above that size limit and appear puffier. But researchers don't really understand why the path of planetary evolution forces this bifurcation. A new mission proposal, called the Early eVolution Explorer (EVE), wants to find out, and a draft of its concept can be found in preprint form on arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nasa-early-evolution-explorer-mission.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 14 Jun 2026 15:30:03 EDT news700318541 Physicists led by the University of Iowa have documented in the finest detail to date how energy from the sun interacts with Earth's magnetic field, which could yield greater insight into solar effects on Earth that drive space weather. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tracers-spacecraft-solar-energy-route.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 13 Jun 2026 16:00:01 EDT news700412869 To truly understand what an asteroid is made of, we need to send a probe to it. Remote sensing from ground-based telescopes, or even orbiting observatories, can only do so much. A new white paper submitted to the U.K. Space Agency's 2035 Space Frontiers program (available on the arXiv preprint server) pitches just such a mission architecture. Called the REndezvous Mission for Orbital Reconstruction of Asteroids (REMORA), the plan calls for a swarm of autonomous CubeSats to tag, track and characterize multiple near-Earth asteroids. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-remora-autonomous-space-fleet-built.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 20:00:01 EDT news700478982 Using the Subaru Telescope, astronomers have conducted follow-up observations of a recently discovered exoplanet known as TOI-1883 b. Results of the new observations, published June 5 on the arXiv preprint server, indicate that TOI-1883 b is a low-density super-Neptune. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-puffy-super-neptune-emerges-years.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 08:00:04 EDT news700453179 Heat waves across Europe and South Asia have dominated the news recently. But these events are really a surface expression of more fundamental changes affecting our planet: Earth itself is accumulating heat faster than ever before. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-earth-energy-imbalance.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:20:02 EDT news700394702 Moon missions come in all shapes and sizes, from car-sized rovers packed with scientific equipment to towering rocket payloads—and now, a small, shape-shifting machine that is about the size of the average palm. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-shifting-tiny-rover-japanese-toys.html Space Exploration Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:08 EDT news700393361 Binary asteroid systems are widespread throughout our inner solar system. For decades, the standard paradigm held that many of them form when a rapidly spinning primary asteroid casts off material, which then reaccumulates into an elongated moon orbiting near the Roche limit. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-binary-asteroids-puzzling-configurations-link.html Astronomy Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:20:01 EDT news700389490 After only four short years, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and observational cosmologists like Richard Ellis at University College London (UCL) have pushed the cosmic lookback time to an era when the universe's very first stars and galaxies are within observational reach. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-cosmic-dawn-universe-stars.html Astronomy Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:00:01 EDT news700380542 A compact, multifrequency radar built by a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will make it easier to collect information about dynamic cloud systems. Called CloudCube, this new instrument simultaneously probes the atmosphere with three radar signals, spanning 36 to 240 GHz, for optimized sensitivity to a wide range of water droplet and ice particle sizes. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nasa-cloudcube-miniaturized-radar-clouds.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:40:01 EDT news700315181 The moon may look unchanged from afar, but its surface is constantly reshaped by microscopic impacts and a steady stream of particles from the sun, a process known as space weathering. Now, Georgia Tech researchers have recreated one of those weathering sources, solar wind, in the lab—offering new insight into how the lunar surface evolves. Their work is published in The Planetary Science Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lab-moon-scientists-lunar-explore.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:30:02 EDT news700328581 A new telescope technology—measuring just 6 millimeters (0.24 inches) in diameter—could improve how future space missions study and monitor the sun while simplifying onboard hardware and reducing costs. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-small-optical-component-telescopes-view.html Space Exploration Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:00:02 EDT news700234792 There's a question at the heart of SETI that doesn't get nearly enough attention. It isn't whether aliens exist, and it isn't whether we have the technology to detect them. It's a far more practical problem: With a billion stars in our galaxy and finite telescope time, how do you decide which ones to actually listen to? https://phys.org/news/2026-06-where-not-to-look-in.html Astrobiology Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:20:43 EDT news700307582 We're used to a lot of different natural things falling out of the sky. These can include snow, rain and sometimes even frogs (yes, really). All of these relate to weather phenomena. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-meteorite-impact-gold-western-australia.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:20:41 EDT news700310221 Astronomers have revealed distinct differences in atmospheric conditions between the morning and evening transition zones of the ultra-hot gas planet WASP-121 b, which separate day from night, commonly called terminators. This achievement was only possible due to the unmatched sensitivity of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-jwst-reveals-dawn-dusk-atmosphere.html Astronomy Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:00:01 EDT news700214341 The asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs also created an underground environment suited to supporting new life, and new research suggests it lasted for millions of years longer than previously suspected. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-dino-asteroid-fueled-underground-life.html Astrobiology Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:20:02 EDT news700231012 Solar flares are the most explosive energy-release events in the solar corona, leading to intense particle acceleration, plasma heating and bulk plasma motions on short timescales. Core questions during solar flares remain unresolved, including how and where particle acceleration occurs, and how energized electrons propagate through coronal magnetic structures. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-meerkat-reveals-electron-sites-solar.html Astronomy Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:40:01 EDT news700228561 Since NASA's Artemis II crew members safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10 after their record-setting mission around the moon, science teams have been busy collecting more data and combing through observations collected on the test flight. Results from these science investigations will help support safe human exploration of deep space and provide a blueprint for how future missions will conduct science on the lunar surface as NASA builds a moon base and develops an enduring human presence there. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-artemis-ii-moon-mission-earth.html Space Exploration Mon, 08 Jun 2026 21:00:03 EDT news700146841 Teams working on NASA's INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission, the first space-based survey of the dynamics of tropical convective storms, have completed assembly and tested two of the mission's small satellites, or SmallSats. Testing continues on the third SmallSat and is scheduled for completion no earlier than September ahead of a 2027 launch. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nasa-incus-mission-road-storms.html Space Exploration Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:40:03 EDT news700146782 Asteroids and planetesimals regularly bombarded Earth between about 4.6 billion and 3.5 billion years ago, during the Hadean and Archean eons. Because few rocks today are more than 4 billion years old, our understanding of the planet's environment during that time is limited. However, samples from the moon and its cratered surface hint at the period's rate of cosmic impacts. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-cosmic-bombardment-earth-crust-prebiotic.html Astrobiology Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:40:04 EDT news700143613 This April, humanity had front-row seats to space as the Artemis II Orion spacecraft transmitted crystal-clear footage of its historic journey around the moon from more than 250,000 miles (about 402,000 kilometers) back to Earth at speeds on par with home internet connections. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-artemis-ii-livestreamed-def-videos.html Space Exploration Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:40:03 EDT news700133941 Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used simulations to show that a newly developed, compact X-ray telescope could be used to map the chemical composition of the entire lunar surface, a vital breakthrough for understanding its geological evolution. Detailed modeling of the detector and a realistic satellite mission show that two years would be enough to map five key elements, while an array of 5-by-5 detectors could improve resolution and get results faster. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lunar-orbiter-concept-reveal-key.html Space Exploration Sun, 07 Jun 2026 15:48:23 EDT news700066069 The TRAPPIST-1 system, located about 41 light years from Earth, has been a focal point of much exoplanetary discussion—mainly because it has seven confirmed planets orbiting a dim M-dwarf star. Two of those planets—TRAPPIST-1e and -1f—are thought to be in the star's habitable zone. However, the habitable zone of M-dwarfs is so close to the star itself, the planets are likely tidally locked to it, meaning they have a permanent day and night side, with a "twilight terminator" in between. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-faster-alien-weather.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 07 Jun 2026 14:00:01 EDT news699540212 Astronomers have investigated a puzzling binary star system in which two stars that may have formed together now show dramatically different chemical compositions. The new study, uploaded to the arXiv preprint server on May 29, hints at the possibility that one of the stars may have swallowed its own planets. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-star-planets-clues-chemical-paradox.html Astronomy Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:40:01 EDT news699871330 It may seem like we are on the verge of discovering alien life. In 2025, a press release stated that we have the "strongest hints yet" of extraterrestrial life on the exoplanet K2-18b. And when talking about a collected sample from a rock named "Cheyava Falls" on Mars, NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said this was the "closest we have ever come" to discovering life on the red planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-aliens-cheyava-falls-mars-exoplanet.html Astrobiology Fri, 05 Jun 2026 11:40:01 EDT news699870782